


Crab Festival

by RinChanSanMatsuoka



Series: Sourin week Sept 2015 [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Kid Fic, M/M, SouRin Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-15
Updated: 2015-09-15
Packaged: 2018-04-20 20:38:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4801493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RinChanSanMatsuoka/pseuds/RinChanSanMatsuoka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sourin week day 1<br/>Prompts: Rock (Sano Elementary) + Aiko Desho (lost)</p><p> The Sano trio + Gou go to a summer festival.  (The boys are around 9 and Gou is 8)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crab Festival

**Author's Note:**

> Please look at the fanart collab for this fic as well! It's [here](http://pinkypelos.tumblr.com/post/129107584665/day-1-of-sourin-week-rock-and-aikodesho-sano)

“Onii-chan, can I have some of your yakitori?”  Gou hung off her brother’s arm, staring at the skewer of chicken he was holding. She had planted herself between Rin and Sousuke when the kids had sat down to eat.

Rin stared at her for a moment, before glancing back at his food.  He’d only eaten half of it and had already stuffed himself with other festival food, so he supposed she could have it.  “Fine.  Just eat it slowly, okay?  Mama will be mad if I let you get sick.”  With a small smile, he held the skewer out to Gou.

“You should be careful too, Rin.  You’ve eaten a lot of junk today,” Sousuke snickered, ruffling Gou’s hair as she started devouring the meat.

“I’m fine!!  I have a bigger tummy than Gou!”  Rin pouted at his best friend, crossing his arms as he started to sulk.

“Are you sure, Rin-chan?  You’re pretty small,” Kisumi teased from his spot on Rin’s other side.  All he got in response as a shove, along with those big red eyes beginning to water.  “D-Don’t cry, Rin-chan!”  He threw his arms around his friend, trying to cheer up the other boy.

Rin huffed and shoved at Kisumi, though he did crack a small smile as Kisumi rocked him back and forth.  “Stupid,” he said, laughing softly.  “What should we do now?”

Sousuke grinned a bit, reaching across Gou to nudge Rin.  “I’ll race you to the target practice booth.  First one there has to pay for the other’s game!” Before waiting for an answer, he jumped up and started running away from his friends.

“W-Wait! That’s not fair, Sousuke!  You got a head start!”  Scrambling to his feet, Rin ran after Sousuke, leaving Kisumi and Gou behind.

“Those two never stop, huh?”  Kisumi sighed before turning to Gou.  “Come on, let’s go get cotton candy without them.”  Grinning a bit, he held out his hand to Gou, pulling her to her feet.

“Can we eat it without them?”  Gou spoke in between bites of chicken while clinging to Kisumi’s hand.

“Of course we can, Gou-chan!  They’ll just miss out on the yummy cotton candy!”

With a grin, Gou let Kisumi tow her off, though she did glance behind her, watching as her brother disappeared into the crowd.

* * *

Sousuke frowned as he came to the end of the festival stalls.  Where was the shooting game again?  When they had passed it earlier on their quest for food, it had been surrounded by a bunch of other booths.  Maybe he had outrun it in his excitement to beat Rin at a race.  “Oi, Rin, do you remember where it is?”

Turning around to his friend, Sousuke only came face to face with empty air.  His stomach clenched as he looked around, trying to spot red hair in the crowd.  Unable to find Rin, he clenched his fists, trying to tell himself that his tummy hurt because of all the junk food he had eaten.

Sousuke grit his teeth before stomping back into the crowd, determined to find the shooting game and Rin.

* * *

“S-Sousuke?” Rin’s voice trembled as he looked around the shooting game stall.  It had to have been  _at least_  ten minutes since he’d made it to the booth and Sousuke still hadn’t shown up.  His hands wrung the front of his yukata nervously, clenching the fabric in his small fists as he tried not to cry.  Stupid Sousuke had been too fast to keep up with and now they were separated.

Giving up on waiting for his friend, Rin decided to set out to find Sousuke.  If this turned out to be some mean joke, he’d kick Sousuke’s butt!

He continued to grip his yukata as he set out into the crowd, darting around adults and teenagers as he searched for his friend.  A few adults tried to ask if he was alright, but he brushed them off, scrubbing at his eyes to get rid of his tears.

“I’m fine,” he told them before hurrying away from them.  If he spent time talking to well-meaning strangers, it meant wasting time that could be better spent looking for Sousuke.

* * *

Rin made it to the end of the line of stalls, the empty, dark street stretching out in front of him.  He wasn’t sure how long he’d been searching for his best friend, but it felt like  _forever_.  And now he had come to the end of the festival stalls and he was still without Sousuke.

Trying to keep calm, he gripped his yukata tightly, not caring how wrinkled it made the fabric. Sousuke wasn’t anywhere to be found and it scared Rin.  What if something bad had happened?  Unable to hold back the tears anymore, he crouched down, pressing his face into his knees as he started to sob.

“S-Sousuke… Help me,” he sobbed, hoping that somehow, Sousuke would be able to find him if he just called for him.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat there, but eventually, his tears turned to dry sobbing and his chest hurt whenever he gasped for breath.

What was he supposed to do now?  There were too many people at the festival and the crowd made finding Sousuke impossible for someone as small as Rin.

“Rin-chan?”  A familiar voice came from behind him, making Rin turn around.  Kisumi stood behind him, holding a bag of cotton candy in one hand.  “Oh my god, Rin-chan, what are you doing over here?” The pink haired boy hurried over to Rin and crouched down beside him.  “Where’s Sousuke?”

At the mention of the missing boy, Rin let out another dry sob, hiding his face in his knees again.  “I c-can’t find him, Kisumi!  I’m scared!”

Kisumi’s eyes widened slightly at Rin’s words.  Sousuke was always getting lost, so it didn’t worry him much, but it terrified Rin. Taking one of Rin’s hands gently, he stood up, pulling the other boy up with him.  “C’mon, Rin-chan.  I’ll help you find him, okay?  So don’t cry.”

Sniffling, Rin nodded and gripped Kisumi’s hand tightly as his friend led him back into the crowd.  He rubbed his eyes, trying to calm down, though a few, choked sobs made their way out of his mouth as they wove through the crowds.

* * *

Sousuke paced back and forth in front of the shooting game booth.  He had finally managed to find it, only to discover that Rin was nowhere in sight.  Surely Rin should have gotten here by now.  It was getting late and there were fewer people walking through the stalls than there had been when he’d challenged Rin to a race.

“Sou-chan!” Kisumi’s voice pierced through the crowd and Sousuke instantly frowned.

On reflex, Sousuke turned toward the voice and said, “Don’t call me Sou-chan!”  His annoyance with Kisumi vanished when he spotted Rin beside him.  His friend’s face was stained with tears, eyes bloodshot, cheeks and nose red, all evidence that Rin had been crying.  A lot.  Sousuke felt his heart sink into his stomach and he hurried over to Rin.

As soon as Sousuke started moving, Rin pulled his hand away from Kisumi’s and ran to meet his friend halfway.  Pulling Rin into a tight hug, Sousuke patted the top of his head as he felt the smaller boy start shaking with sobs.  “Don’t cry, Rin.”

“I c-couldn’t find you, stupid!”  Rin took a shaky breath, trying to calm himself down, only to dissolve into harder sobs.  “I was s-so scared!”  Even though he was upset, Rin continued to cling to him, refusing to let go even when Sousuke tried to push him back a bit to look at him.

Sighing softly, Sousuke resigned himself to being clung to and he returned his focus to comforting Rin.  “I’m sorry… Rin, please stop crying.”  He ran a hand through Rin’s hair, holding Rin close with his other hand.  “I won’t do it again, okay?”

“P-Promise…?” Rin finally looked up at Sousuke, rubbing his nose a bit.

“I promise.” Sousuke nodded solemnly before holding his fist out to Rin.  At first, he was sure Rin was too upset to return the gesture, but finally, Rin raised his own fist and bumped it gently against Sousuke’s.  With a smile, Sousuke turned to the shooting game, pointing at one of the large shark plushes.  “I’ll win you one of those, okay?”

Rin’s eyes brightened up as he looked at the plush and while he continued to sniffle, his sobbing subsided.  “R-Really? Thank you, Sousuke!”  He grinned a bit as he followed Sousuke over to the booth.

* * *

Rin hugged the shark tightly to his chest as he and the other two boys walked through the festival to meet up with Sousuke’s parents and Gou.  There was a small smile on his face as he looked at the shark, though his attention turned to Sousuke when he felt his friend grab his free hand. Sousuke refused to look at him, a light dusting of pink on his cheeks.

“I promise I won’t leave you again, Rin.”

The small smile turned into a grin as Rin gripped Sousuke’s hand tightly.  “Thank you, Sousuke.”


End file.
